Internet's biggest smartphone leaker Evleaks retires

The biggest source of smartphone leaks on the internet has called time on a two-year launch event-spoiling career.

Evleaks, also known as Evan Blass, is a former Engadget and Pocketnow journalist who opted to leave the life of a paid scribe and set up a Twitter feed dedicated to smartphone leaks.

Under the initially anonymous guise of @Evleaks, Blass spouted a countless stream of tech-related leaks. Even more remarkable than the number of them was the hit rate - if a device was featured on @Evleaks, you knew it was more than likely in production in some capacity.

Over the weekend, Blass revealed that he had retired via - what else? - Twitter. "All good things must come to an end. Thank you for an amazing two years. [RETIREMENT]" he wrote.

When pressed on his reasons for leaving the smartphone leaking game, Blass told TNW that it came down to money. Put simply, it's difficult to make any out a Twitter feed, no matter how popular.

Blass had attempted to monetise his unique position through sponsorship, donations ("felt like online panhandling"), and eventually by funnelling readers to a website. But with those Evleaks posts distributed over Twitter anyway, there proved to be little incentive to visit.

Now, having been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis some years ago, Blass felt the need to earn a decent wage with a solid pension. He will be embarking on a new career to hopefully do just that.

Presumably HTC, Samsung, Apple and co. will be very encouraging of this career change.